Problem With Methuelah
by FerretKid
Summary: When friends can't help each other and longing is unfulfilled./ Set in the same world as "How to Win Friends…" and takes place immediately after. Reading the prequel is not necessary to understanding this part of the journey of friends.
1. Return Home?

**Disclaimer:** I never created, owned, nor had anything to do with Highlander or any of the characters. They belong solely to Panzer-Davis. I'm borrowing them for a bit, and promise to return them in good condition. Amy is my creation entirely and belongs to me.

**Story Note:** This takes place immediately after "How to Win Friends and Influence Immortals." While you should not have to read it in order to understand the dynamic going on, it may be helpful.

* * *

**Methuselah's Problem**

* * *

**Paris**

Perhaps it was being in Paris for the first time in over a year, or perhaps I had been lonely and not acknowledged it, but ever since arriving my dreams had been filled with Adam. The feather light touches of his fingers on my arms, his aftershave combining with the distinctive musk of Methos. My skin shivered, thinking about his lips tracing my neck. The memories tortured me all night and most of the day in a way they hadn't since my rather sudden departure. Awakened for the fourth time this week with a longing I barely understood, I sat on the couch with my coffee and stared out the wall of glass, wishing to banish this unwanted part of myself and wondering why I had returned to my little apartment.

Eight months ago in Joe's, I had made the choice to live on my music alone. No credit cards, no family support, and no plans. I played my violin for travel money, for food, and for a place to sleep. Callouses redeveloped on my fingers and old lessons in sleeping anywhere at anytime were remembered and used. I had been able to make my way to Europe rather quickly by getting work on a cruise ship, then spent the last three months playing with the symphony in Prague - the life I had dreamed of when I was a girl of fourteen. Ten years ago. So many lifetimes ago.

Other than Madame Martin, Paris truly held nothing for me anymore and a fourth morning of introspection and meditation brought me no reason for my arrival. I had learned years ago to go with the serendipity that seemed to rule my life, but any answer as to "why" usually came swiftly. This time I waited.

My fourth day waiting, spent on my couch with quiet, coffee, and the ghost of fingers tracing their way along my jaw and down my thighs. A knock scattered the memories like vapor. Wrapped up in the past enough to ignore the present, I wasn't paying attention to the nagging in the back of my head. It demanded my attention now. How could he have possibly known to find me here? Not even Madame Martin knew.

"Adam!" He stood alone in my doorway. He couldn't be here alone. Shouldn't be. "Where's Lex?" Her last letter, ten days old, had found me yesterday.

"She's in Geneva."

"Gen - ?"

"She's in the hospital."

"No!" Santorini. They were supposed to be in Santorini for another week at least.

Alexa had fallen in love with the island and spent two pages describing one sunset to me and another two pages telling me about visiting the market with Adam acting as translator and negotiator. Simple joy and pure love had coursed through her pen so strongly, it radiated off the paper. I had begun to wonder if simply being with Adam could cause her to live. Maybe even forever.

"May I come in?"

"Yes, yes, of course." After he stepped past I took a moment to control the flush in my cheeks and breathe. When I turned around, I could focus past myself and study him. His fingers played against his coat in a foreign manner and his eyes darted around the room. Adam was…jumpy? Nervous? As he paced across my windows it seemed to me he was trying decide what he needed to say.

"I found it! I've found it and we go get it tonight!"

"Adam, did we have a conversation I don't know about?"

"Everything matches!" Ignoring me, he continued pacing.

"Adam!" I managed to grab his sleeve and get his attention. "Adam, I'm not a mind reader. You have got to start at the beginning!"

Well, technically I am a mind reader now, I suppose. But trust me, it is not a talent to wish for. Being bombarded with thoughts not your own, unable to tell the difference sometimes between physical words and mental words without watching your friend's mouths…. It's exhausting. Far more exhausting than maintaining the mental barriers to keep all the hubbub out.

Adam pulled me to the couch and began to tell me about a memory, one that had popped into his mind after checking Alexa into the hospital. The gleam in his eyes and the waves of confused emotion rolling off him distracted me from his words for too long, and when I finally realized what he was telling me I could feel the blood immediately leave my face. I couldn't sit up without swaying. Adam didn't notice, too wrapped up in his plan, trying to delay the coming loss.

"Rebecca told me about the power it was supposed to have, but neither one of us believed it. Well, I didn't. Not really. But I started going through our records and -"

"Hold on. Our?"

"Watchers. I compared our records to legends from around the world. Every story, every description, every report of its power, for eight thousand years, they all match! They are all exactly the same! It's real!"

I pressed my fingers against my legs to make them hold still. The edges of my vision went dark. Adam jumped up and paced around again, letting me slip unnoticed to the book case and pull out a small book I'd left behind last year.

"Where does it come from?" I managed to keep my voice from shaking, or at least he didn't notice.

"It was first seen with Methuselah, then he gave it to his grandson."

I found the particular page I needed and studied it closely for a moment. Adam still hadn't noticed my new distraction, thank goodness. What I read didn't make me happy and I swallowed the new lump in my throat, shutting the book more firmly than I meant. Of course that got his attention.

"What's that?"

"I, uh...spider! Big, nasty, fuzzy spider over here. Can't stand spiders. At all."

Incredibly, Adam accepted my crappy, stuttering answer. Slightly more calm, he settled himself on the arm of the couch. I swallowed a sigh of relief and slid the ancient leather book back on the shelf. The dust remained on the cover, obscuring the intricate tooling from casual glances.

"So, after Noah?"

"It disappeared from history for a while. The chronicles don't say anything before it was seen in Rebecca's possession, but she told me The Ancient gave it to her hundreds of years before Darius killed him."

"Rebecca?"

"She was one of the oldest Immortals, one of the best of us, until she was killed."

The softened voice and slight wrinkling around his eyes told me that there was history with Rebecca. The Adam Pierson whom I had drug to Zurich would never have let this much of a tell slip. I wondered if it had to do with Alexa's influence. The name Rebecca finally clicked. Having Adam appear in my apartment had really rattled me, for my brain to be working so slow. "Oh! Amanda's teacher."

"Rebecca gave a piece of the crystal to her students when she decided they were ready to go out on their own."

I searched my memory further with the uplift of his eyebrow and made the connection. "Amanda's crystal. It's part of this Methuselah Stone, isn't it?" Relief swept over me so swiftly I dropped onto the couch also. "So it's scattered in pieces with all her students?"

"Not anymore."

_Shit_. The fever light re-flared in his eyes and I felt the faint hope that my job would be an easy one vanish.

"A rather power hungry Immortal spent a lot of time hunting down Rebecca's students and taking their heads so he could take their crystals. MacLeod killed him, but the crystals he had collected weren't with him."

So on the one hand, good news. Adam's intense gaze told me there was more. "But…?"

"But Luther's Watcher knew exactly where it was, so he retrieved it and brought the crystal to headquarters."

Always. Always just when you think the news can't get worse, the other shoe drops. In a big way. My stomach rolled. I may not learn how Adam had known he would find me, but I knew precisely why he had knocked on my door. "You want me to get it out for you."

"I got to see it today, on display in a gallery. It's not even in a case! I need your help to get it."

"But Adam, I don't…"

"You told me you've made it in the building before! I know you can get it out of there without any problems."

To get away from the desperate pleading in Adam's eyes, I went to the tiny fridge across the room. Tempting. Very tempting. Magic. Such a part of my life. A worthless part, I usually felt. At this moment, hope blossomed in me. Magic could be useful. Magic just might be the answer. Magic -

I caught myself twisting a curl around my finger while drinking my Coke. My hair. It would be my hair of all things that snapped me back to reality.

To better blend with the eastern European population, I had dyed my hair nearly black and let it grow out of the extremely short shearing I had given myself out of rebellion. Was that the word? Yes, rebellion. Just over a year ago, guilty of surviving, I had literally chopped it off in some sort of symbol of denying who I was. At that moment, my hair served to remind me of my rebellion against Peter.

Because of magic.

Because I had refused his healing. When I realized his magic had not only ensured my survival, but was well on the way to removing all traces of my injuries, I demanded that he stop - but not before his magic had changed me in some way yet again.

Magic changes the user. Magic changes the recipient.

What kind of change would it inflict on Alexa in her frail state? I feared I knew exactly how Adam was going to react when I told him my decision. I prayed he would understand.

With a deep breath I left my Coke on the counter and returned to the couch. I took Adam's hand and pulled him off the arm to sit next to me. I wished to keep holding his hand, but forced myself to let go. I had to quit pining over what was so obviously no more than a one night mistake.

"Did you tell 'Lexa about your idea?"

"No. If I couldn't track down the stone I didn't want to have built her hopes up."

"Adam, dealing with magic isn't predictable, and rarely safe. Wouldn't it be better for Alexa to be part of the decision?"

"She went from standing in the ocean to in the hospital in three days and you want me to take the time to convince her to believe in magic? She doesn't have the time!"

He started to stand, I pulled him back down. "But there are risks and she has to be the one to choose -"

"She will want this. When I am there with the stone in hand, when I tell her what I've found, she will want this."

My hopes to gently lead him away from this plan were quickly shredding. "How can you be so sure?"

"She wants to live!"

Oh, Adam, if only I knew how to take the pain of loss away so this might be easier to hear. "You want her to live and she may not be ready to leave you, but would she be willing to pay the necessary price? Do you even know what that price could be if you use the stone?"

"What I do know is that this stone is her only chance - "

"Adam, I…" I sighed. I couldn't say this gently enough and the last thing I wanted to do was get into details of _how_ magic tended to change mortals. "One thing I've learned is that magic encased in crystals can be highly unreliable. Rebecca was right to divide it among her students, and not just to keep one Immortal from becoming too powerful -"

"It gives life to mortals! How can that be a bad thing?"

I heard the desperation in his voice and pushed anyway. "Adam, will you please look at me! _Look_! Last year at Joe's, did you not notice I had changed? Can you not see it now? I actually look my age! I'm taller! I have boobs, for crying out loud! Because magic was used on me -"

"You can hardly be an example of what _might_ happen to her! There are no negative reports in any of the accounts. Every single owner has had a long life and miraculous escapes!" Frustration reared through the confused mass of emotions he had been broadcasting.

"Just because humans were too foolish to realize what caused the collapse of their civilization - Please, Adam, don't follow in their foolishness!" I saw his jaw twitch and his pale face go as white as a sheet, so I stopped. After a second I asked, "are you doing this for Alexa, or for you?"

"How dare you!" His words hissed through his teeth and his eyes snapped at me.

I thought I had nothing more to lose, and so much more to protect. "I tell you it's not safe! Adam, think calmly about it for a minute and -"

His fist raised and I braced myself for the blow. Yes, I was willing to be hit if it would help calm the chaos of emotion still rolling off Adam. Mostly I hoped it would jar him out of his shortsighted plan, but he didn't swing. He towered over me and yelled instead.

"I don't have time. _She_ doesn't have time! You say you're her friend? Well, here's something that can help, that can change what's going to -" My heart broke as his voice did. "And you're going to stand in my way instead?" Adam leaned into my face, his eyes glittering with a hard, golden light. He growled through his teeth at me. "You are no friend. Not to her, and not to me."

"Adam," I stood and tried to take his hand once more.

He yanked his arm back and dodged around the couch. "Get away. If you won't help me, then you stay away. Forever!"

He stomped out the door and slammed it shut.

I stood in the middle of the room, staring at the door, trembling from head to toe. I could clearly feel how much Methos loved Alexa, so what else had I expected to happen by questioning his idea?

_*Hey, Sis.*_ Peter's voice brushed into my mind.

_*Hey, Peter.*_ Even my thoughts sounded glum.

_*What's going on?*_

_*Call me, would you? I need -*_ "...to use my voice," I finished by answering the phone. "Radiating, am I?"

"Maybe a bit. What's going on?"

"I think a magic-user's artifact has surfaced." Of the six of us, Peter is the most serious, so I expected him to take news like this quietly. He was too quiet. "Peter?"

"I heard. What is it?"

"A crystal. And it's been in the possession of Immortals for several thousand years. Funny enough, one had been giving pieces of it to her students."

"In pieces it should be safe enough."

"Except a particularly nasty student killed the others for their pieces, and then MacLeod killed him."

"So Mac has it."

"Nope. Watchers. Thank the Creator it's still missing at least one piece. Adam's after it now because he's sure it will save Alexa."

"Amy…"

"I know! I tried to warn him that it was a bad idea…"

"And how did that go?"

"Almost as well as when you told me you couldn't heal her. I just don't know what to do now!"

"What are your options?"

"Change my mind, and suddenly be willing to steal it and then don't give it to him? Steal it before he does and hide it? Help him, and then let him kill Alexa by using it on her? I don't see a way out of this that keeps me from losing both friends!"

"Why didn't you say not helping and going to Alexa?"

"I already said goodbye last year, Peter."

"No, last year you mourned her coming death. Now you need to say goodbye."

"But the danger if the crystal -"

"Worry about that later. We're used to cleaning up the after messes aren't we? Go."

"Love you, Peter."

"I know," I could hear the smile in his voice, but feeling the extra push of caring he sent through our connection lifted my spirit more than his words. "Love you too, Sis. Come home soon."


	2. In Geneva

**Geneva**

* * *

I paused at the door to look at Alexa before disturbing her rest. To be honest, I paused to give myself a chance to see her and prepare. The last thing I wanted was to burst into tears just because I'd never seen her hooked up to oxygen and IVs before. As a child I'd seen family members die like this - slowly wasting away, their lives ruled by pain and machines. I hated it then and I hated it more now.

Alexa and I had the same thin frame, but she'd been a few inches taller when we first met. Thanks to Peter's forced healing I now stood nearly the same height and had filled out more, and compared to her emaciated form covered in tubes and wires, I suddenly felt like an awkward giant. Would she hate me just for being alive?

I stepped into the room, silent as a spirt so she wouldn't wake up, put my backpack in a corner, moved the only chair in the room next to the bed, and waited.

Hours passed, I had dozed and awakened, before Alexa woke up.

"Amy?" She tried to clear her throat. I got a cup of water off her table and held the straw to her lips.

"Hey, sleepyhead."

"What are you doing here?"

"Friends don't let friends suffer horrid pillows and worse food alone, so I came to share the misery." I tried to smile and failed miserably, but at least she groaned and rolled her eyes at me.

"You are a lousy liar, Amy Allan."

I sighed. "Well, I really didn't want to worry you, but since you can see through me, I confess. I heard this hospital was in the top fifty haunted hospitals in Europe, and I've made it my mission to visit all fifty."

Alexa smiled weekly and shook her head.

"Still not good enough. Drat. Ok, ok, I give. No, I promise! This is the truth." I raised my hands in surrender. "I've finally decided to go on a husband hunt. This hospital is my last chance for finding a single doctor Peter will approve of and not run off!"

Alexa giggled until she coughed and I was instantly sorry for being so silly. I raised the head of her bed a little more and put the straw to her lips again. After four swallows she let her head sink back into the pillow.

"I'm so tired." Her voice had never been particularly powerful, but it was so faint now. Being moved from the floor into ICU had apparently drained her terribly.

I had to sniff before I could speak. "You should sleep more then. I'll be right here."

Alexa turned her head toward a picture frame sitting in the window. In it was a shot of her and Adam on the beach, grinning like fools and holding each other while the wind blew through their hair. They were both so carefree, so obviously happy, and totally in love. I smelled the salt and the wind, felt it caress my face as Adam's fingers brushed against my back. A wave of sadness, longing, fear, and love washed over me so quickly I nearly gasped out loud. I couldn't breathe, couldn't see until I strengthened my mental barriers against it.

Alexa must be very close to the spirit realm if her emotions were overriding my defenses so easily. The threads holding her soul to her body were growing weaker by the hour.

_Adam, where are you? _I clearly heard Alexa's internal cry beforeshe tried to bury her doubt as swiftly as it arose. "Do you think he'll make it back soon? I'm so tired, I don't know..."

_Oh, God_. "I know he doesn't like leaving you, so he'll get back as fast as possible." Alexa closed her eyes, I quickly wiped my own, sniffed again, and begged the Creator I wasn't about to make a colossal mistake. "I can help you can hang on long enough for Adam to return."

Alexa opened her eyes and measured me carefully. I couldn't decide if she knew more than I had ever dreamed, or if being so close to death just meant she questioned less. For a brief moment and with a stab of guilt I wondered if she were examining me as a potential rival.

Another coughing fit occupied us both for a couple minutes and at the end she gasped out, "Yes. Please."

I brushed hair off her forehead and then held her thin hand. "Close your eyes and sleep. I'll stay here take care of you."

I closed my own eyes to block out all distractions and reached into myself. I imagined a gate at my wrists, holding back the power the coursed through me. From my toes to head I politely asked it to gather in one place and wait, then I imagined the gates opening just enough to allow as little energy out as possible. I guided it down my hands to her finger tips with a wish and a prayer. _Do not burn. Do not hurt. Just give her time. Just a little more…._

* * *

For a several hours Alexa and I kept a routine of dozing for fifteen to twenty minutes, then she would wake up and want a little water or small bites of food. As far as pushing energy to her, I would only do that when she slept, not wanting her to see our hands glowing. Perhaps not wanting to explain was selfish of me. Worse, maybe she'll resent my living even more.

After taking another swallow of water, instead of going back to sleep, Alexa spoke to me. "Amy, do you know Adam's...real name?"

My heart stopped. Literally. Skipped at least two beats. Alexa had never so much as alluded to knowing Adam's secret in her letters and I now I wondered how she feels about it and how I should answer. Until Adam showed up at my door the day before, I'd had no direct contact with him for nearly a year, so obviously we couldn't have discussed it. For a brief moment, I wished I could talk to him as easily as I could to my brothers without Alexa hearing or knowing.

"Yes," I whispered, watching Alexa's chest rise and fall. I couldn't help but think of an injured bird I had once watch die as a child.

"Are you the same?"

"No." Since meeting MacLeod, I had many occasions to think about that and to be glad my own life expectancy would be a mere two hundred or so years. Not one of those times compared to the relief I felt at his moment. I could answer honestly and - for once - need not shade the truth.

Tears welled in Alexa's eyes and nearly rolled down her cheeks before she wiped them away. "I wish he wouldn't forget me."

"Oh 'Lexa," I took her hand again though I was almost afraid to, and thought I finally understood the fear I had felt earlier. "I promise none of us are ever going to forget you, least of all Adam."

"Do you really think he'll remember me?"

"Forever and ever. And now you know that's a literal truth!" It made me happy to see her wan smile for that moment. "You may not realize how very special you are, but he does. His heart is so full of you… You're the best thing that's ever happened to him, Alexa. Ever."

"I don't know what you or he could think is so special…"

"I don't know how to put it in words, 'Lex, but you are. There's just something about your spirit not many people have anymore. Take it from those of us that have been around the block way too often. You are special." She rolled her eyes at me and made a face that made me laugh. "I'm glad I've had you for my best friend these last couple of years. It's meant the world to me."

Alexa shook her head at me, but smiled and squeezed my hand as best she could. The best she could muster felt no stronger than a newborn's grip. How much time remained? I kept her hand in mine and encouraged her to sleep again.

A nurse came in. Time for the hourly vitals and equipment check. I moved out of the way, taking a moment to stretch the knots in my back and shoulders. Alexa's body wasn't the only one wearing down from the constant energy pushes, but I could take it. I would have time to rest and recover. Alexa had no time.

Checks made, medicine administered, and IV levels verified, the nurse smiled at me and left. I pulled my chair back to the bedside and took Alexa's hand again. She drifted to sleep.

_Lord, bring Adam quickly. I don't know how much longer Alexa can hold up. Dagda, have I done the right thing? Am I really making it possible for Alexa to live long enough, or am I hastening her death by weakening her body? Give me strength to be the conduit, give me wisdom to know how much energy to share._

It was a dangerous game I was playing. It was a balancing act to give her just enough energy to hold on, but not so much as to damage her body more and, therefore, bring death more rapidly. And at the same time, by pushing the extra energy to her, I create her dependence on it. No matter how little or infrequently I boosted her system, I had already started the spiral of need and destruction. I feared I had started too soon and if Adam were delayed, Alexa would not make it.


	3. Life & Death

I opened my eyes, a presence brushing through my mind pulling me out of sleep enough to hear the voices at the door. Stiff, I noticed I'd drooled onto my arm a bit. I left my head on Alexa's bed and waited for my brain to wake up while Adam and the doctor spoke in the hall. I heard shoes cross the few feet to the bed, and a hand dropped onto my shoulder.

As I turned to look up, Adam's hand turned to a vice, demanding a confrontation I had no stomach for. I don't know what Adam saw on my face, but he let go and allowed me to stand on my own.

Leaning over as gently as I could, to not wake her up, I kissed Alexa's pale forehead and whispered, "Thank you for helping save me. Goodbye until we meet again."

I squeezed her hand one last time and hoped the glow would be unnoticed as I sent one last surge of energy into my friend. My last gift - enough strength for Adam and Alexa to hold each other. I left the chair by the bed and grabbed my backpack out of the corner. At the door, Adam snatched my arm as I tried to avoid his glare and leave.

"What are you doing here?"

I forced my eyes to meet his, though his anger hurt deeply. "Don't you think you have more important things to do with your time than argue with me?" I pulled my arm out of his grasp and left, nodding at Alexa's nurse in the hall. I would spend the remaining time in the ICU waiting room.

Hours. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Alexa had mere hours left.

I hate hospitals. I mean really hate them. There were several years as a kid where family members went in and never came out, so as far as I was concerned, admission to a hospital meant someone would die.

I hate the smell, I hate the food, and most of all, I hate the waiting. I especially hate the waiting. Acting like a human conduit was not one of my better ideas, but now the side effect made the waiting easier.

I slept.

Yes, sitting up and, yes, I woke up with the worst crick in my neck ever, but I slept. Right up until a wave of sorrow slammed into me and my mind heard the cry before the sound carried down the hall.

I cried.

I shouldn't be ashamed to say it, but I can't help but be embarrassed. I put my head on my arms and cried. Not a cute little quiet cry like you see on tv. Nope. One of those great, heaving, messy cries when you're not sure if you'll ever stop and you're glad nobody is around to see the tears and snot. I cried for Alexa's unfinished life, the loss of my friend, and even Adam's pain. Peter was right once again. Last year I had not said goodbye, but only given up and accepted the eventuality.

Two hours later, Alexa's nurse brought Adam down the hall. He staggered slightly coming in the waiting room and I jumped up to guide him to a chair, slowed by my own legs nearly giving out. He tried to stop me with a bitter wave of his hand, but I ignored it and reached out to help him as his body betrayed him in his deep sorrow. He dropped to a chair and sat, staring through the wall as if willing it to collapse and bury him. That I could understand. That I could make sense of. I did not understand why he was so...quiet. At his appearance I had braced myself against another wave of memories, expecting to be forced to relive their last hours together, but nothing came.

After a long while I turned to him and asked, "can I get you anything?"

He grumbled an incoherent answer and like a battering ram the memories slammed into me, triggering a sharp headache behind my eyes. To rebuild my walls took more energy than I could muster in an instant and in that moment I saw the depth of his pain. With a deep breath and reinforcements as strong as I could make them at the moment, I opened my eyes in time to see tears flowing down his face again.

I stood, stepped in front of Adam and wrapped his head in my arms. If it were possible, his lanky frame had shrunk. I was sure my hands felt his bones through his sweater as I rubbed his back and shoulders.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and cried.

Not loud, sobbing, snot filled wails, but the silent wrung out tears of a man with nothing left inside. _Oh, Adam, Adam. I'm so sorry._

The nurse returned and caught my eye. Over Adam's head we had a silent conversation through raised eyebrows, tilted heads, and nods. I brushed a hand through his hair.

"Adam, we need to know what...to do...what arrangements you made..."

He stood abruptly, so abruptly in fact, that he clipped my jaw with this shoulder and I nearly bit off the end of my tongue.

"Light the world on fire and go to hell for all the damns I give!"

"Adam!" My tone was a bit harsher than I intended - my mouth was full of blood, after all - but it had the desired effect. His head whipped around and eyes focused on me, lucid once more. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with Alexa's handwriting. I swallowed the blood in my mouth before taking my hand away and taking the paper. 'Pearsen Mortuary.' I shook my head. Alexa had to have done that on purpose.

Adam had sunk back into his chair, head in his hands, and I didn't believe he'd be able to make the required calls, so I did.

I called the mortuary, I called Joe, I called MacLeod, then I called a cab.

The call with Joe was far and away the most difficult. He had quickly become like an uncle to me and he'd also developed a similar relationship with Alexa after hiring her. In the past eight months, I'd called Joe exactly twice a month to let him know where I could be found and to tell him I was still fine.

I wasn't due to call for another week.

"Hey, Joe."

"How is she?"

I couldn't answer. I couldn't get past the new lump in my throat. Joe didn't need my answer; he knew.

With his duffel and my backpack, Adam and I climbed into the cab and were heading to one of the best hotels in the city. I looked over my shoulder at the retreating hospital and my memory echoed Joe's final instructions. "Get him someplace safe so we don't have to worry about losing him, too."

* * *

Still gray and dazed, Adam followed me out of the cab and into the hotel lobby and I seriously considered turning around and finding a hotel that might be built on ancient holy ground. He'd been in Geneva almost twelve hours and I felt it was safe to assume he that he hadn't slept since storming out of my apartment. That should put him at a minimum of forty hours without real sleep. Possibly more. It was the same for me, but at least I had been able to cat nap in the hospital. I considered it an accomplishment that either of us were able to stand, let alone function.

As I handed my credit card to the desk clerk, Adam came out of his fog once more. "Adam Pierson can't afford this place," he tipped his head to mutter in my ear.

I smiled back. "No, but his spoiled, obnoxious friend can."

Somehow we seemed to support each other off the elevator and into the room. Anything with a bed and a couch, I had requested downstairs. The clerk deserved a raise for being perceptive enough to also make it close to the elevator so we only had to stagger two doors down before fumbling with the door and collapsing inside.

_Drop the bags, order food. Get clean, get food. No fainting. There are no other priorities. Ignore those other voices in your head, listen only to yourself. Get clean, get food. _"Adam, would you get room service, please? Order as if you just took three Quickenings, eh?" _Ignore the voices, rebuild that shield before Adam's thoughts flood in again. C'mon, you can make it just fifteen minutes more._

Seventeen. It took seventeen minutes, including dressing time. My hands shook by the time I finished, but I still paused to grimace at my sunken cheeks and purple ringing my eyes. Adam looked equally grim. With our clothes and hair disheveled, our eyes looking like we'd been punched, and no luggage, it was a wonder the desk clerk hadn't taken one look and thrown us out as vagrants.

The room service cart had arrived and groaned under the weight of food Adam had ordered, bless him. Why he hadn't started eating before I came out of the shower, I couldn't fathom, though I appreciated it. Neither of us had eaten in far too long and it showed in the way we fell to with no attention for anything outside our own plates.

I easily ate three times what a person my size should, but I had to replenish, and fast. The energy I expended first to keep Alexa here, then to keep my shields in place, and now to force myself to keep going past exhaustion, had already started to attack me physically. Now that I had food, it was time to sleep.

I had a vague impression that Adam started to say something, but I couldn't stay upright another second. I barely made it to the couch before passing out.


	4. Death & Life

When I became aware, the room was quiet and no lamps were on. I blinked at my watch. Somehow it read a couple hours earlier than the last time I looked. Obviously, I still wasn't fully awake as it took me a full minute to realize I'd slept nearly twenty-two hours. I spotted Adam's form on the bed, breathing steadily, as I collapsed back on the couch. I pulled the blanket up - he must have dropped it on me before collapsing himself - and drifted off again.

The next time I awoke, soft light filtered through the curtains and my watch said eleven a.m., though I still had a hard time believing it.

I let another two days pass before I intentionally disturbed Adam. I didn't leave the suite, but I also made no effort to stay quiet as I made necessary phone calls, ate, and waited. If he moved from his bed at all, he did so only when I slept. I made sure we had food in the room in case he woke and required it.

The food remained untouched.

Finally, I could wait no more. The time had come, everything was ready, and we had to leave.

"Adam, do you want breakfast?" His breathing had changed as I approached, but he didn't move. "Adam, you need breakfast."

I sat on the edge of the bed and received no response. I laid a hand on his back and he still refused to move.

"Adam, we've been here for three days now. You have to go back to Paris today."

He responded by attempting to pull the covers up over his ears, but as he'd dropped on top of them, and now I also sat there as well, he failed. I didn't know how to treat him. "Methos…"

He reacted more like a feral animal than a human, sitting up and snarling in my face, "What do you want from me?"

I resisted the urge to move back, though all my instincts yelled at me to do so. "I'm only here to help."

The dam broke again, and Adam began crying, raging, and telling me all that had happened after he stormed out of my apartment. He told me of the duel with Amanda, the burglary attempt, and the treachery that led to the loss of the Methuselah Stone. I saw how deeply the suspicions of MacLeod and Amanda stung him, wondered if he realized it, and how much that fed into his emotional storm.

Adam paced the room waving his arms and clenching his fists. I moved back to the couch and allowed him the space he needed. He would be ready for quiet again later. Right now he needed physical release.

I quickly found my own heart at war with itself. Some relief at knowing the Methuselah Stone couldn't be used, panic at its disappearance, and pain for Adam's loss. But he could never know. I could not allow him to see my relief at not having to learn what would have happened to Alexa if he had returned with his prize.

"I failed her!" Adam finally dropped onto the couch next to me, worn past his body's endurance.

"No, you didn't."

"I had the stone, right there -"

"The failure was not you. The failure was that miserable little puke trying to be something he wasn't meant to be."

"And if I'd had it -"

"You can't play that game, Adam."

"You didn't see the crystal! It changed!" He leapt to his feet and swayed, needing to eat.

I stood, took his hands, and drew him back down to the couch. I probably should have let go of his hands, but couldn't quite bring myself to do so. "I believe you. I believe it changed. But even I've managed to learn that 'if' doesn't matter anymore, going on does. You loved each other -"

"Desperately," he whispered.

The pain in that whisper! I couldn't have stood against it without so much rest the last few days. My short life span had already taught me the pain would ease eventually, but I guess no matter how long or how many times, the hurt is always the same.

"Adam, don't poison yourself with might-have-beens, cherish what you did have!"

His head fell onto my shoulder and he cried again, great sobs that shook his body and tore at my heart. I wrapped my arms around him as best I could, and made the choice to open myself. Picking up emotions like this is a disturbing new facet of my gifts - after a year I'm still not sure I like it - but I will use it right now. I let his grief wash over me, took it up, and shared the burden. I couldn't take it away, but for that moment, I could make the load lighter, help him see the faint glimmer of light in the darkness. I didn't know what else I can do, I didn't know what else to do.

What is this gift I have for saying the wrong thing to Adam? Did something in me change that much during my travels? I can't remember what started the yelling, but we'd been at each other's throats for a good half hour already and it wasn't getting any better.

"I did not just stand by!" I roared at him.

"You have the ability to -"

And I'd already heard that accusation at least five times. "It's not reliable or safe!" I yelled so I didn't have to hear it again.

"Every time you've claimed to be her friend you were lying!" He spat at me bitterly.

My anger flashed red hot and my teeth clenched so hard I had to growl out, "how dare you?"

Adam sneered at me while imitating my voice. "'Oh, we're wonderful friends…' But when finally, directly asked, you wouldn't lift a finger to help!"

I trembled from head to toe. "I told you that I couldn't -"

"What is it?" He interrupted with an accusing finger in my face. "Huh?" It was like my silence goaded him on. "What?" I had never seen that much fire in his eyes. A small corner of my mind told me he yelled toward me more than at me, but his words still hurt. And then Adam hurt me far more than I dreamed him capable of. "You think your magic makes you so special, and you sit there and keep it to yourself like the selfish bitch you are!"

My breath left in a rush and I couldn't respond. I felt the blood drain from my face and I had to gasp to catch my breath. "Listen here you over-stuffed, pompous ass! You have no fu -" The profanity fell from my lips like venom, yet all I could do was continue to stare at my finger which poked at Adam's chest. I didn't remember raising it. Sparks flew off my hand, heating the air between us.

"Get out," he whispered.

I closed my eyes along with my raised hand and dropped my fist, willing myself back to calm. I felt the energy leaving me in visible waves for many long moments. I'd lost control. Again. Bad things happened when I lose control. As I pulled myself together and released the tension, I pried my fingers open and held them against the safety of my legs. I clenched my jaw, willing myself to say no more while pushing my temper back in its box.

If Adam felt anything but anger, he didn't allow it to show through the snapping in his eyes. I guess I was no better, keeping my face as stoic as I could. I have been taught well. With a single rueful nod and a tightening of my lips, I pulled my backpack onto my shoulders, willing him to bend, wishing for just one flash of softening to cross his face.

Nothing.

I forced normalcy into my voice. "Your ticket is on the table and the funeral home will meet you at the airport." I paused one last time, giving him a moment to reconsider, a chance for either of us to bend. "Good-bye, Adam."

Adam turned his back to the me, staring out the window over the Geneva streets instead.

I couldn't apologize, but I could cry. I bowed my head to hide the tears and left the suite.

The door closed with a soft click and we were each alone.

* * *

….

* * *

Thank you!

For the next step in the journey, join us in "Methusaleh's Legacy," already published and on my author page.


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